U of S Requirements for use of Copyrighted Material

Important New Copyright Procedures for all Teaching Staff and Faculty

As a result of the University's decisions to remain outside of Access Copyright, the Copyright Office has been working to help ensure members of the university community are using copyrighted materials appropriately. We would like to thank the university community for their support as we undertake these challenges.

After extensive consultation with department heads and deans’ executive committees, the Copyright Advisory Committee has developed a system for tracking copyright material distributed to students. This tracking system will help ensure that material being distributed has the appropriate permissions, which helps the compensation of creators and minimizes the risk of copyright infringement.

For Faculty and Teaching StaffAll teaching staff and faculty are asked to provide, at the start of each semester, the syllabus for their course, which is to include the readings for the course, and complete a Copyright Clearance Reporting Form (pdf) (for a .doc version click here), on which they provide information on all material that requires a transactional license (the definition of transactional license can be found on the accompanying fact sheet). For all additional material, teaching staff and faculty will simply have to indicate that their use of the material is permitted under various exceptions or existing permissions. A response to an auto-generated email, indicating agreement with the university's Copyright Poilicy will be required annually.

For Department HeadsThe department head has the responsibility to ensure the forms have been completed and submitted by the faculty members and teaching staff for whom they are responsible and are being asked to indicate this by way of a Departmental/College Statement of Copyright Compliance. These materials will be kept on file by the department head for possible review by the Copyright Coordinator.

Resources AvailableInformation sessions on any of the above information, or copyright in general, can be arranged for you and your colleagues. Please contact the Copyright Coordinator at copyright.coordinator@usask.ca to arrange a session or for more information.

The University of Saskatchewan is committed to compliance in all copyright matters. It is the responsibility of each individual to comply with copyright laws and respect copyright ownership and licensing. The use of copyright materials without proper consent may be actionable under both the Copyright Act and the Criminal Code. In addition to any actions that might be taken by any copyright owner or its licensing agent, the University will take any breaches of this copyrightpolicy very seriously. In the case of employees, disciplinary procedures may be applied. In the case of students, disciplinary action for academic and/or non-academic misconduct may be applied.

The University of Saskatchewan respects intellectual property and intellectual property laws, and will take appropriate steps to assure consistent application of legal requirements throughout the campus. Also, please note that in addition to potential liability, staff at the University Libraries, Archives, and Printing Services have a professional responsibility to respect copyright law and may refuse to copy or print something if it is thought to be an infringement of copyright law.

The Copyright Act, Copying Guidelines, and Fair Dealing Guidelines, along with the many licenses the university has signed, allow many uses of copyrighted works for educational purposes. To balance your needs and creators’ rights, make use of the legal rights available to you while staying compliant with any license limitations.

Please take a few moments to review the information contained within the pages of this website. You may also contact the Copyright Office for more information or to schedule an information session or workshop for you and your colleagues.

Note: The information obtained from or through this site does not constitute legal advice, but is provided as guidelines for using works for educational purposes.